Cursed Hyperion
by Shin-Ra 26
Summary: Hyperion, Seifer's infamous gunblade, was found laying in the mud near Balamb...and without its owner... Will Squall understand why only Seifer can wield it?
1. Hyperion

Cursed Hyperion (Ch. 1)  
  
It made Squall Leonhart uneasy, every nerve in his body tense, telling him to destroy the accursed weapon that was once weilded by their enemy.   
Hyperion had been found just outside of Balamb, laying on the ground looking much like a wounded animal, quite unlike the powerful gunblade that Seifer had once used to oppose them. The SeeD cadet who had found it had brought it back to Balamb Garden. Squall, not to mention Zell and a few others, wanted to destroy it, wanted to destroy all traces that would even remind them of Seifer Almasy. Quistis had a different idea, though. Somehow she had convinced Squall that it was only a weapon, a gunblade that another cadet could possibly use. There weren't many gunblades in the Garden that were of exceptional make, so Squall reluctantly agreed.  
But there it was, taunting him. Taunting him like Seifer had once done. Even without its original wielder it looked ready to kill, ready to destroy. As he lifted it to place it on a shelf with other unused gunblades he found that it was decidedly heavier than his Lionheart. He had to lift the Lionheart with two hands. How did Seifer ever manage to fight single handedly with a much heavier weapon?   
What had happened to Seifer? He wouldn't throw down Hyperion and leave it to be found by the common passerby. As protective as Seifer had been of that gunblade it seemed precious to him. Squall could remember that Seifer had once remarked that it was sacred, only to be touched by those deemed worthy. He guessed he'd know what happened to his rival once he turned up in the mud somewhere just like his gunblade had.   
  
~~~  
  
Two days later, the Garden's training area was in chaos. Irvine and Zell were doing their best to disperse the crowd as Squall pushed his way through to the center of the problem. A young SeeD cadet, Jeff Miles, was laying on the ground, his arm bleeding, the blood flowing from a large gash on his upper shoulder. Hyperion lay on the ground at the cadet's side. Jeff was about 13 or so, a gunblade specialist in training.   
  
"What happened?" demanded Squall.  
  
"I," Jeff winced from the pain, holding his hand over his left shoulder. "don't know. I guess it slipped."  
  
"Be careful next time. Hyperion is a heavy blade. You have to remember that." Squall pointed at a nearby SeeD that had come to see what had happened. "You, take him to the infirmary."  
  
"Yes, sir." The SeeD saluted. Squall stood up and watched as Jeff was lifted and carried off. Only after the young boy was off the ground did he notice that his shoulder wasn't the only thing bleeding. He could see blood seeping through his pants leg on his thigh. It didn't look like Hyperion merely slipped. It looked like it attacked him.   
  
"I saw what happened!" A young first year SeeD suddenly said. She looked white faced and pale, her hands clasped together at chest level.   
  
"Mary, you know about as much as the rest of us, so be quiet." The girl standing beside her pushed her on the shoulder. Mary looked like she was going to push back, the only thing holding her back was the Commander's presence.   
  
"Then what happened?" Squall asked.  
  
"Jeff was fighting a grat. The grat was killed alright, but for a moment it looked like the gunblade kept on fighting! Jeff looked like he tried to let go of it but he couldn't." told Mary.  
  
Squall looked over at two of his fellow SeeDs, who had finally dispersed most of the crowd. "Irvine, Zell, did you two see anyting?"  
  
"We ran over when we heard the commotion." said Irvine.   
  
"What's up, Squall? You actually let a cadet use that bastard's gunblade?" Zell balled up his hands into fists as he spoke.  
  
"It's only a weapon, Zell." Squall shrugged.  
  
"Yeah, well I think somethin's up with that thing. Ain't right that it's around."   
  
"I'm going to talk to the cadet about it." Squall picked up Hyperion from where it lay. Perhaps the fact that Seifer used to wield the weapon weighed just as heavy on everyone else as it did him. The only time anyone cared to even look at the gunblade was when their eyes accidentally shifted over in its direction. When their eyes met its shining blade, their eyes showed a hidden, unexposed fear of it.   
As he walked to the infirmary, he guessed that any gunblade that carried Hyperion's history would have cause enough to still be feared and respected. Maybe it was something about the way Seifer used to use it. Hyperion would seem like it would come alive in his rival's hands, slashing through the monsters in the training area. The way Seifer made it look, him and Hyperion were one. One fatal being.  
Before even half a day passed Hyperion was once again laying unused in a gunblade case, hidden away in one of the dustiest corners of the weapon storage room. After the incident the day before, Jeff was given a different model of gunblade and Hyperion was locked up.  
  
~~~  



	2. Laid To Rest

Cursed Hyperion (Ch. 2)  
  
"Squall, what are you worried about? As I said before, it's only a gunblade, nothing more." Quistis's voice snapped Squall out of thinking mode and back to the Triple Triad game they had been playing.  
He looked down at the cards, wondering which one to play next. Quistis had challenged Squall to a game, hoping to relieve some of the dry tension he had been feeling. This was the fourth game they had played so far. He had one the first one, but Quistis had beaten him the last two games. He placed his hand on his forehead and absentmindedly placed a Behemoth card next to the Shiva card he had laid down earlier. Quistis shook her head and laid down her card. Plus! With that, Quistis won the third game.   
  
"You can't say nothing's on your mind this time, Squall. You can't even concentrate." Quistis picked up her cards and placed them back into her Triple Triad deck.   
  
"I just can't concentrate, that's all." Squall watched his cards for a moment before putting them up as well.  
  
"I know that, now what's the cause?"   
  
"Nothing." Squall and Quistis said in unison.  
  
"I wish you'd stop doing that." Squall stood up and turned to walk away.  
  
"Then tell me! What's wrong?" asked Quistis. Squall didn't answer, keeping his back to her as he walked out of the Garden's cafeteria.   
He didn't want to just get up and leave Quistis like that, but he had to work this issue out for himself. After Jeff Miles had the accident with Hyperion, a first year SeeD had also tried to wield the mighty weapon. It wasn't long after the SeeD had received the weapon than he was found laying motionless inside of the training area, his left arm laying in a pool of his own blood. Luckily the injuries weren't too severe and the arm would heal over time.  
Squall surprised himself as he unlocked the weapon storage room and removed Hyperion from its case, loading the gunblade's bullets slowly one by one. If that cursed weapon did indeed try to kill anyone that dared to pick it up then it could do its best to try and kill him.  
Inside the training area, Squall pulled out Hyperion, holding it with both hands as he would the Lionheart, and prepared to face the creature in front of him, a grat. The grat was the first to lash out, its tentacles flailing wildly. Squall deftly evaded the attack, Hyperion swinging slicing through the air in counterattack. The grat wailed and instantly fell. As for Hyperion, it rested easily in Squall's hands. So far nothing out of the ordinary had happened but perhaps it needed to be tested more?  
The ground began shaking violently as another creature appeared, this one large, red, and extremely fierce looking.  
Squall tightened his grip on the gunblade and dove into the fight, only taking one hand away from the weapon for the few seconds he needed to cast a Thundaga spell. The T-Rexaur flinched, allowing Squall to follow up his attack with Hyperion. Jumping over the T-Rexaur's tail as it swung around, he had a perfect view of the underbelly. Taking the chance to perform the fatal blow, he twirled Hyperion above his head once before carrying it through, slashing through the soft underside of the beast. The T-Rexaur fell, dead.  
For a moment he imagined how Seifer must have felt when he wielded that blade, but the moment was halted, all together too short a moment. Squall fell backwards, grabbing his shoulder as if trying ot hold in the pain. Hyperion fell from his hand, laying on the ground as if it had done nothing.  
Squall watched, wide eyed. He could have sworn he had just seen it slash at him, the light of the area glinting off its blade as it thrusted itself from his hand. It had only happened in what seemed like half a second, but still... He forced himself to lift the gunblade from the ground. It looked harmless. What he had just seen had to have been a part of his imagination, the gunblade slipping from his hand in the process. He could remember once before, when he was a cadet, that a practice gunblade had done just the same.   
Convinced by his own reasoning, Squall left, a few minutes later Hyperion once again placed securely inside its case. The gunblade, illuminated by a faint glow that remained unseen...   
  



	3. Soul Possession

Cursed Hyperion (Ch. 3)  
  
"My Knight..."  
  
"Yes, Sorceress?" Blue eyes looked up to gaze at the figure of Sorceress Adel, the current embodiment of Ultimecia.  
  
"You have failed me in the past..." Her voice flowed, digging into Seifer's very soul with every word.  
The already stone grip on Hyperion tightened, his knuckles beneath his glove turning white. A snarl made its way onto his lips. He knew he had failed, defeated every time by Squall. The thought burned his soul, flaring up as if someone had lit a fira inside. He clasped his free hand into a fist, adverting his eyes from Ultimecia's unto it, his fist closed tight enough to cause the black leather of his glove to complain. If only he had been--  
  
"--More powerful?" Seifer cringed, fighting against the pain that came when Ultimecia read his thoughts. "You failed because you were weak. You had the power, but you did not use it." The blond knight lowered his head.   
  
"....Yes, Sorceress...." He finally spoke.  
  
"If you fail me again, I will see to it that you forever hold pain." Seifer looked up at the figure of Adel. Ultimecia continued, menacingly, a scowl on Adel's face. "Battle will be your pain."  
  
"I don't understand. Battle is what I live for! How will it be pain?"   
  
"If you fail me, you'll understand."   
  
~~~~  
  
He had failed her yet again, bringing upon him the pain she had promised him not so long ago. Ultimecia destroyed and Time Compression ended, he had smirked at it all, imagining it to be only a threat forgotten and unfulfilled. The only pain he felt was that of regret, regret for all his actions against the Garden, his actions against Fujin and Raijin, who had stood beside him with loyalty. The only regret he did not have was that for what he had done to Squall.   
That's when he discovered the pain, the pain promised to him. Gunblade in hand, he slashed his way through every creature that dared take him on. He had to defeat Squall, no matter the cost. He had to train, to become more powerful than his foe would ever imagine. He would win.... He knew he would.... That's when he attacked...himself....  
  
Three days before....  
The caterchipillar in front of him fresh in death, Seifer stumbled in his steps, pain erupting in his shoulder, grabbing it with his right hand. When he took away his hand, he discovered blood staining the leather fingertips of his glove. A new wound covered his shoulder.   
"COME OUT, YOU COWARD!" He bellowed, his voice echoing past the trees. Silence answered. He held up Hyperion, ready to face his attacker. "Show yourself, don't leave me hangin' now!" Silence again, save the rustle of leaves and the wind as he slashed the gunblade wildly in the air. He looked around for whoever had attacke him. It was very unlikely that the caterchipillar had actually gotten in a hit, a good one at that. He was alone. The bushes behind him rustled. Seifer turned to face it, pointing the gunblade in the given direction. A bite bug showed itself.  
An unworthy opponent indeed, one slash broke the insect in two halves. Another pain swept through him, this time along his chest. What was attacking him? There was no damn way that bite bug had the time to fight back! He took a deep breath, straightening his posture, sheathing Hyperion, glaring into the surrounding foliage. If someone was out there, he'd find them. SOMEONE was attacking him and he was sure in hell gonna find out who!   
He never found who he was looking for, but he did find his answer.  
~~~~  
  
Now....  
He was an idiot. He felt like one, so he could call himself one if he chose. So what if Ultimecia had thrown a spell at him before she died? He could live with that. A few cuts and gashes would heal over time. Hell, he didn't care even if they didn't. He'd live with it, like he had a choice. BUT DID SHE HAVE TO CURSE HIS FUCKIN' WEAPON?  
Out of anger, he had thrown it down and left it in the mud. That was was one of the most idiotic things he could ever remember doing. Hyperion was HIS weapon. It was part of him. A part that he had lost as soon as he let it go, dropping it into the mud as if it was expendable. The way he felt right then, Fujin and Raijin were more expendable than that gunblade!   
But how in the fuck did Garden get ahold of it? He had overheard some SeeD cadets talking in Balamb hotel about it, how everyone who used it had to be sent to the infirmary. If Hyperion wasn't alright, he'd do the gunblade's work for it! Letting the curse work it's course inside Garden was a pleasing thought. It almost surprised him that Squall didn't destroy the gunblade at first sight, but then again, Squall never was one of the smart ones.   
But now it was in Garden. Balamb Garden, full of SeeDs that would just love to rip off his head and feed it to the nearest T-Rexaur. Damn. How was he gonna get his gunblade out now? Damn Ultimecia. She had stolen his dreams from him. Damn himself if he was going to let Squall steal Hyperion from him...   
...There had to be a way. He'd find it.   
  
  
  
  



End file.
